CCLEC congratulates Jamaica on winning the 2018 photo competition.
The WCO has awarded Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) the best Customs photo for the photo competition. The photo competition provides WCO members with a means to showcase their administration’s history, activities and successes.
Commissioner Velma Ricketts Walker received the award on behalf of her department.
Mr Raju Boddu, Comptroller of Antigua& Barbuda Customs and Chair of CCLEC Finance Committee, represented CCLEC at the 17th WCO IT Conference & Exhibition which was held in Lima, Peru. Delegates from seventy five countries attended the event which took place from June 6-8, 2018.
Mr Boddu presented on the topic “Connecting dots in Maritime Environment”, with particular reference to Trade Facilitation, Border Security and Revenue collection which are the main functions of the customs administrations.
He described the different actors and entities in the Maritime Environment, the enormity of growing marine traffic and seaborne trade and outlined the challenges in connecting the dots; the challenges being (1) Varied legislative arrangements (2) differing National priorities in relation to border security (3) non-cooperative border agencies(4) Infrastructure inadequacies (5) Capacity and competence issues (6) Different technologies and their inter-inoperability and (7) Resource constraints
He highlighted the security challenges in the Caribbean context and the interventions of CCLEC in implementing the Regional Clearance System (RCS) for small vessels and CARICOM IMPACS Advanced Cargo Information System (ACIS).
“In the context of the complex Customs ecosystem, the actual implementation of profiling, targeting and enforcement is a herculean task if one has to depend on traditional way of managing borders” he said.
The CCLEC 40th Conference was convened in Miami from May 23-26, 2018 under the theme “Strengthening the Exchange of Information for Integrated Border Management and Risk Management to Facilitate Legitimate Trade”. Twenty two countries were in attendance as well as regional and international organisations. CCLEC was pleased to welcome Japan Customs, who was attending for the first time.
The opening ceremony was chaired by Ms Hazel Edwards of the Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA). Director General of Haiti and Chairman of the 40th Conference, Mr Jean Jorel Janvier, welcomed the delegates and the representative from the WCO, Mr Leigh Winchell, Deputy Director for Compliance and Enforcement delivered the opening address. The keynote address was delivered by Mrs Velma Ricketts Walker, Commissioner of Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA).
In her address, Mrs Walker noted that the advent of the information technology revolution has resulted in an extremely dynamic Customs environment with many Customs administrations having to respond to exponential increases in the volume of trade. She underlined the use of ICT, Single Window for strengthening the exchange of information and risk management as key to managing the changing landscape.
The region was also urged to be cognisant of the emerging security challenges at its borders. The ongoing unrest in Venezuela, the vulnerabilities associated with the expanding Economic Citizen program and the radicalization of individuals from the region travelling to the Middle East were cited as real border security threats.
She emphasised the need for robust information sharing between Customs administrations and border agencies. She said “If criminal networks can successfully strengthen transnational information sharing and build illicit empires…what of law enforcement? Will we adjust our sails to effectively mitigate against adverse and changing winds? We must answer the call to protect our nation’s borders while facilitating legitimate trade.”
ST JOHN’S, Antigua (CMC) — The Antigua and Barbuda government says it hopes to be able to pass legislation that would allow for marijuana to be grown under control conditions or with licences and to be processed like any pharmaceutical in a laboratory that adheres to high standards.
A statement issued after the Cabinet meeting, said that the newly-elected government of Prime Minister Gaston Browne had invited several officials and experts to participate in the deliberations “in order to achieve the most in decision-making”.
The statement noted that a four-person group, including three Canadian, with an interest in producing medical cannabis, “came to Cabinet in order to advise on the kinds of steps required by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda in order to make possible the growing, harvesting, processing and sale of medical cannabis in its many forms”.
The statement said that the government hopes to be able to pass the laws that would allow cannabis to be grown under control conditions and sold in a domestic market, having been transformed into a variety of medicinal products.
“The Cabinet agreed that Canada’s laws are the best fit to be a model, although Britain, Germany, Switzerland and Brazil are pursuing the same path for growers of the cannabis plants.
“The Cabinet learned that the laws of Jamaica have been adapted to achieve similar ends, but the process has proven to be very unwieldy for producers seeking licenses. Canada, the second largest state in geographic size on the planet, has federal laws that make the growing, harvesting and processing of medical cannabis uniform throughout its many Provinces,” the statement noted.
The exponential growth of piracy and counterfeit products over the years has been a cause for major concern in light of their impact on consumers, brand owners as well as on economic growth.
In light of this, a one-day Anti-Counterfeit Training for Customs, Police and other Enforcement Agencies will take place on January 15 to treat with enforcement issues in Intellectual Property.
The Training is intended to address several pertinent areas such as the importance of the enforcement of copyright and trademark and more particularly, the role of the enforcement agencies in intellectual property enforcement.
This activity has been organized by the Anti Counterfeit & Brand Protection Agency operating in Latin America and the Caribbean, DISOSA Brand Protection & Corporate Services (DISOSA BPS) in collaboration with the Trinidad and Tobago Intellectual Property Office (TTIPO).
A statement from the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs (AGLA) notes that there are challenges as it relates to the enforcement of intellectual property legislation in Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean. It said, however, that the enforcement agencies continue to play a fundamental role in the deterrence of access to counterfeit and pirated goods.
“An efficient and effectively enforced intellectual property infrastructure is necessary to avoid intellectual property rights infringements that result in economic harm. It is against this background that this training seeks to promote the importance of intellectual property protection and enforcement as vital for economic development,” the statement said.
Source: Looptt
MIAMI, United States (CMC) — The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency says its Air and Marine Operations (AMO) detected multiple drug-smuggling vessels with 4,735 pounds of cocaine as part of Operation Full Court Press in the Caribbean Sea with interagency partners.
On Wednesday CBP said the estimated wholesale value of the drugs is US$61.7 million.
CBP said crews from Miami Air and Marine Branch and Caribbean Air and Marine Branch used “sophisticated maritime surveillance equipment to detect multiple drug-smuggling vessels as part of multi-agency operations around the holidays.”
It’s reported that the discovery was made between December 18 and December 22.
CBP said Operation Full Court Press is an Air and Marine Operations Southeast Region led operation leveraging interagency partnerships to target maritime smuggling organisations responsible for cocaine trafficking throughout the Caribbean to the United States and elsewhere for distribution.
A shipment of over 100 firearms and several rounds of ammunition destined for Montego Bay, Jamaica was recently seized by US customs.The mega bust was made by border protection agents at Miami International Airport in November during a routine inspection on a shipment.
The shipment contained two blue barrels that were said to contain personal effects.
A physical inspection revealed various food items, cat litter, a cardboard box labelled as a four-drawer dresser, and one cardboard box labelled as a television stand.
But further checks revealed that the ‘personal effects’ actually contained two rifles, 115 pistols, 139 magazines, 103 rounds of nine mm ammunition, 50 rounds of .357 ammunition, 50 rounds of .45 ammunition, 24 rounds of .40 ammunition, 40 rounds of .223 ammunition, nine handgun back straps, five magazine parts, three pistol grips, three buttstocks, and weapons parts.
The weapons were scheduled to arrive in Montego Bay from Miami via Kingston.
The Jamaican police are investigating.
Source: LoopTT
At the invitation of the Regional Intelligence Liaison Office (RILO) Asia/Pacific (A/P), the CCLEC JIO attended the ceremony held in Seoul, Korea on 6 2017 to mark the 30th Anniversary of the first RILO and the birth of the global RILO network. The JIO was one of 10 RILO’s to attend this ceremony.
The WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya was present for this ceremony.
Following the welcome address by the Korea Customs Service Commissioner, Mr. Yung-Moon Kim, Secretary General Mikuriya delivered a congratulatory speech expressing his sincere appreciation to the past four host Administrations of the RILO A/P for their services, namely Hong Kong, China (1987-1998), Japan (1999-2003), China (2004-2011) and Korea (2012- present). He recognised the gradual evolution of the RILO A/P nurtured by the four Administrations: (i) foundation (Hong Kong, China); (ii) capacity building (Japan); (iii) operations (China); (iv) and networking (Korea) with all 33 WCO A/P
The annual Enforcement Liaison Officer (ELO) conference was held on 1st& 2nd November 2017 in Miami. In attendance were twenty six (26) countries and representatives of WCO Regional Intelligence Liaison Office (RILO) from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Western Europe. The meeting was a joint effort by ODA, CCLEC and member administrations.
This annual meeting is an integral part of the CCLEC enforcement network and WCO National Contact Points. The meeting’s primary objective was to foster closer cooperation with regional and international counterparts and improve networking.
Presentations were made by a Border Force Senior Officer from International Directorate South Americas on Operation Hunter, a representative from Japan Tobacco Industry on tobacco smuggling and a former UNODC consultant, on fuel smuggling. Both the RILOs delivered presentations on work being carried out in their regions.
The JIO presented the report on Operation Caribbean Shield which was held for six weeks in the region. The Operation was focused on small arms trafficking in the region to assess the level of risk at the borders.
As announced previously, today (Wednesday, 1 November 2017) the Customs Department launched Phase 1 of its project to transition from its legacy IT Platforms to its enhanced IT Platforms.
Collector of Customs Charles Clifford said, “The transition will ultimately see the phasing out of the Customs Department’s legacy IT Platforms in favor of enhanced IT Platforms which are designed to ultimately deliver effective trade facilitation and exceptional customer service while maintaining effective border control protocols.”
Deputy Collector of Customs Kevin Walton, who has responsibility for the Customs Department’s Revenue Collection Portfolio, said, “Because this is a transition, those traders who may not be ready to use the new IT Platform which is being launched in Phase 1 today will have available to them our legacy IT Platforms which will remain live and available in order to facilitate a smooth transition within a reasonable period of time before the old systems are taken offline at the end of this year”
Collector Clifford advised that customers must come in to register on the new system in order to take advantage of it advances. Registration is necessary for compliance purposes. However, it is a one time registration and once you are registered on the new system you will be able to enter your declaration online from the comfort of your home or office. You will then receive an email from the Customs Department confirming receipt and advising that your declaration will be processed within 2 hours. Once your declaration is processed, you will receive a further email advising that your goods have been released and that you should come in to pay the duties and collect your goods or alternatively that your goods have been selected for inspection and you must come in to witness the inspection.
Aaron Smith
CCLEC’s commitment to capacity building is evident through sustained investments in regional Customs staff. CCLEC recognizes that the fulfillment of its mission and objectives is dependent on the strength and capabilities of this most precious resource. This commitment to training began as early as 1993 through participation with the WCO in the Diagnostic Study. Following this, some seven member countries benefited from Customs Reform Modernization (CRM) programs completed by CCLEC.
As part of its pledge to developing leadership, in 2014, CCLEC introduced the Management Training Program, through a Certificate in Customs Management and the Executive Diploma in Customs Management facilitated by Charles Sturt University in Australia.
In 2016 CCLEC launched its eLearning platform dedicated to the delivery of the two-tier training, providing introductory Customs courses as well as training in Trade Facilitation. Over the years, CCLEC has reiterated the need to effectively develop the skills and knowledge of staff. The organization maintains its C2C training commitment through the inclusion of a Training Needs Analysis Form located on its website.
The fight against the illegal drug trade remains a key focus of CCLEC and was the basis for its formation. CCLEC recognizes that illegal activity such as illegal drug smuggling; human trafficking; and money laundering adversely affects economic growth and sustainability. The Illegal drug trade in particular, severely threatens health and social life. Based on statistics collected from law enforcement agencies, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported that between 2013 and 2014, over 293,962 kilos of illegal drugs were seized in the Caribbean region. Of these, marijuana amounted to over 47,486 kilos. In 2016, Guadeloupe Customs Officers discovered some 50 kilos of cocaine in a fish container around the port area. These statistics reflect the urgency to strengthen border controls; to tighten security at ports and coastal areas in the Caribbean. CCLEC continually researches initiatives and is keen on on the adoption of emerging technologies to increase security.
CCLEC’s law enforcement arm employs assimilated information communication technology networks to combat impending threats. Crisis prevention and crisis management are the overarching aims of its intelligence models. These are realized through a number of key strategies, namely:
CCLEC views the development of intelligence structures as an integral block in its capacity building.
Collaboration is essential to the effectiveness of any organization. Over the years, CCLEC has maintained ties with regional and international bodies and has forged partnerships with some sixteen global agencies. CCLEC’s linkages extend to all actors in global trade and travel: government, business, academia and the citizenry. Collaboration is both extensive and rewarding. Opportunities exist to establish best practices and crisis prevention is achieved by drawing from existing case studies and research. CCLEC has drawn from additional benefits of collaboration among them training, information-sharing, short and long-term planning, bilateral agreements, and policy formation and implementation.
